David Crosby Jr.

My staff and I are reading Larry Osborne's new book, Sticky Church. Larry is the pastor of North Coast Church and a pioneer in sermon-based small groups ministry as well as multi-site.

The premise of the book is to help churches do a better job at keeping the people they are already reaching through sermon-based small groups.

Here are just some of the questions I've already written down after reading only the first few chapters:

+How committed are we at PCC to small groups?

+What part of our staff, leadership team and members are involved in small groups?

+How much of our budget is allocated to small groups?

+How much of our budget is committed to attractional events?

+What would our church look like with a thriving small groups ministry?

You might also want to check out StickyChurch.com for more resources.

If you have difficulty understanding the current world financial situation, the following should help clear matters...I received this from my friend who is a missionary/evangelist in Africa.

Once upon a time in a village in Africa, a man announced to the villagers that he would buy local monkeys for $10 apiece.

The villagers seeing there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them.

The man bought thousands at $10, but, as the supply started to diminish, the villagers slowed their efforts.

So the man then announced that he would buy at $20. This rejuvenated the efforts of the villagers and they were catching monkeys once more.

But again the supply diminished, and again people began returning to their farms and their previous, less affluent lives.

The offer rate increased to $25 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was rare to even see a monkey, let alone catch it!

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now act as buyer, on his behalf.

In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: 'Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $30 each. When he returns from the city, you can sell them back to him for $50.'

The villagers, seeing an opportunity to squeeze a bit more out of this monkey business dug up their savings and bought back all the monkeys.

They never saw the man or his assistant again; only monkeys ... everywhere!

Welcome to Wall Street!

I'm not Catholic, but I thought this video was pretty powerful. Enjoy.

When I was in my sophomore year in college my grandfather gave me a set of tapes to listen to by Earl Nightengale. As I began to listen to these talks, for the first time in my life I began to truly understand the power of motivation and inspiration.

I'll never forget one of the talks entitled Acres of Diamonds. It was based on a true story told by the founder of Temple University which he used to raise the necessary funds to build the school. That talk changed my life. If you've never heard the talk, go download it today and listen to it. It's powerful.

We all need to be inspired and encouraged. Life is tough. Life as a follower of Jesus Christ is not for the faint of heart. Ministry can be grueling.

Philippians 4:8 says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

You are what you think. So think thoughts that are true and be inspired.

I just wanted to get this event on the radar screen for all those pastors out there that read the blog. Valley Forge is hosting a Ministry Forum with Leonard Sweet on November 20, 2008. 

Last Sunday we kicked off our new sermon series, EVERYBODY. 

Last Saturday 75 PCCers showed up at the new church property and participated in our highway clean up day. This is by far the best attended outreach we've ever had for this ministry aimed at keeping our environment clean. 

I've been spending a lot of time in the Old Testament lately. Here's another great story that has inspired me to trust God and in His economy while we find ourselves in difficult financial times.